THE TRUE BASIS OF MORALITY

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

25. THE TRUE BASIS OF MORALITY
Worshipful homage to the supreme Cosmic Being who is the one common factor indwelling
and interconnecting all living beings and all members of the human family. We may be quite
different and diverse in every other way, but there is one common factor and that is the indwelling
Reality. “Within you is hidden God. Within you is Immortal Soul.” Eko devah sarvabhuteshu
gudhah (God, who is one only is hidden in all beings). The same indwelling common
factor—Existence-Consciousness-Bliss—makes us all one.
If this is pondered, recognised and gradually grasped as the basis of relating ourselves to
seeming others, we discover that there are no others. From the innermost reality of our spiritual
being, there are no others in the sense that they are something else other than us or something
different with whom we have nothing in common. If we make this the basis of relating ourselves
with all living beings and all of God’s creation, then we will live and move in this world as a
unifying factor, a cementing force, a harmonising principle.
We are not what we see when we stand before a mirror. We are that which is not seen, that
which we feel ourselves to be. And that is the same in all. That Being that makes us all one we call
God, the antaratma (the Indweller), the One in the many.
This truth is the basis of the good life. It is the real basis of kindness and courtesy. Why
should we give respect to others? Because the Being whom we worship and adore is the Being who
is the indwelling common consciousness. When we worship Him in the temple or church, how can
we show disrespect when He is before us as the living God? That which gives us happiness will also
give happiness to others. That which is painful to us will also give pain to others. That which we
desire from life around us is the same thing that others desire from life around them.
Therefore, the true basis of morality, goodness, kindness and compassion, being helpful to
others, of politeness, courtesy and honesty towards others, is the ultimate spiritual experience
which gives us the vision and reveals to us the truth that God is one and He is everywhere. He says:
“I come to you in all directions through My own creation. I put before you My creation so that you
may never forget Me, that I may never be far from you, I may never be something strange. I am the
most familiar thing to you in your life, for you behold Me constantly in all your life, in the whole
world. Every day you see Me.”
Gurudev came to open our eyes to this vision. He taught us to see the hidden God in all
things and to make that truth the basis of our life and our living. Such a life will be full of reverence
for life, of respect for all beings. Out of such a life will come sweet, desirable and beautiful human
relationships.


This is the need of our times, the need of the world today. Many people do not know how to
behave with each other either individually, collectively or internationally. Our behaviour is
unspiritual; we fight and quarrel. For the spirit of religion has gone out of religion. We worship the
outer form, and the awareness of the inner content is conspicuous by its absence. Therefore, the
world is what it is today.
May we as individual sadhakas not commit the same mistake and land in the same
predicament. For, although we can do little to change the world, yet we can change ourselves. We
can bemoan the world but we cannot change it. However we can do everything to rise from
unreality to Reality, from darkness to Light, from mortality to Immortality, from humanity to
Divinity. That we can! That we must!
The foundation of all spiritual life is conduct and character, goodness of heart and the purity
of one’s inner, hidden motivation for actions, speech and thought. No spiritual life or Yoga or
Vedanta can stand upon a foundation of bad character, evil thoughts or wrong practices.